Fuck the Police

I'd like to share my experience this morning, with the hope that if ever you're in a similar situation you can avoid being harassed by the police.

On my way to teach my yoga class, a police van pulled up next to me. They spotted my dreads and ask me to pull over for a "random" search. Now the police have previously raided my grow, and I've been through the bullshit we call a legal system, so this started to bring up all that trauma I went through.

I pulled over and they approached my vehicle. The police ask me to step out of the car. I told them I was on my way to teach and was in a hurry and asked what I'd done. He just said sternly to step out of the car so they can conduct a random search.

I got out of the car, as I know better to aggravate the police. As far as I knew, I did not have any cannabis on me, but I was still nervous as you never know. I once was pulled over and they found a seed and threatened to arrest me and I ended up bribing them.

They found the smallest amount, probably around 0.3grams, of crushed herbs that I forgotten about. In the back of my mind I thought damm, I'm running low and I could've really used that.

They then threatened to arrest me.

I told them that cannabis is legal for personal use and that was the smallest amount wouldn't they consider let me go and they could keep the cannabis. They said that it was only legal in the privacy of my own home.

I mentioned to them that the concourt judgement clearly stated that a vehicle is considered an extension of the private space, to which they then replied that although it's a private space I was on a public road.

It was clear that they were going to give me grief and proceeded to arrest me. My heart sank.

I made a plea to them joking about "Januworry" and that I didn't have any cash, as they could see from searching my wallet. They wouldn't budge.

Still I pleaded to buy them a "cold drink" but I would have to go to the ATM. It was clear to me that they wanted a bribe, but they continued on how they were going to arrest me now, and I would have to arrange with someone to come the police station.

After a few more minutes of pleading, and I was getting a bit frantic, they decided to follow me to the ATM for that "cold drink".

The universe was on my side.

I had to make a u-turn to head back to the garage, and luckily the robot changed so the cops were left stuck behind traffic. I continued driving slowly and calmly and noticed that they were quite far behind me.

My mind kicked into over drive and my heart started racing. I checked and they had given me back my license, bag and wallet. They had not taken down my personal information, but they may have captured my license plate. The voice inside my head debated on wether to wait for them at the garage or...RUN!

I chose the latter, "F*@k those thugs!!" I thought.

I turned right at the intersection as if I was going into the garage, and as soon as I was sure I was out of their view, I hammered my foot on the accelerated, I was GONE!

I bobbed and weaved my way through the suburb taking back routes and made my way to my class. After taking a moment to calm down, I called my lawyer for advice as I was worried that they were now after me.

We went through what had happened and this was his advice. The next something like this happens I should cooperate with the cops as I did in the beginning. If they push to arrest me, I should give him a call and he will speak to the cops directly to explain to them repercussions as they are infringing on my rights.

He's also going to draft this into a legal letter that I can carry around with me and show the cops, as I tend to get targeted because of my dreads.

He also mentioned that I shouldn't worry about the cops coming after me, as they were probably dirty looking for bribes, and I've done nothing wrong.

MR POLICEMAN, YOU ARE THE CRIMINAL!! I AM NOT.

This whole thing has left me quite shaken. As individuals we are prey to these pigs. If we can pull together as a community through co-ops and sharing of information maybe we can stand up to stop this madness.

I pulled over….. That was your mistake… “random searches” dont exist, this is not apartheid. Never co operate with cops, if you have done nothing wrong then you dont even need to speak to them. Next time just tell them random searches dont exist, if they persist, then follow through and go to their station and file a complaint with HR, they are a servant at the end of the day.

And that is no way for a servant of the public to treat a member of it. Fuck the police, WHO WORKS FOR WHO?